New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced his proposal for a comprehensive data security law that will “provide New Yorkers with transparency and control over their personal data and provide new privacy protections.” The proposal also would establish a Consumer Data Privacy Bill of Rights that would guarantee “the right to access, control, and erase the data collected from them; the right to nondiscrimination from providers for exercising these rights; and the right to equal access to services.”

According to the state of New York’s website announcing the initiative, the proposal also “expressly protects sensitive categories of information including health, biometric and location data and creates strong enforcement mechanisms to hold covered entities accountable for the illegal use of consumer data. New York State will work with other states to ensure competition and innovation in the digital marketplace by promoting coordination and consistency among their regulatory policies.”

This proposal is promising and, if passed, it would mean that New York would join California in enacting a comprehensive consumer privacy law. We will follow the proposal closely to see if this new proposal will add to New York’s Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (the SHIELD Act), which passed in 2017 and established cybersecurity regulations for the financial services industry.

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